USS Pampanito: Killer Angel

by Gregory F. Michno

Book Overview

Most World War II submarine stories are glorifications of war written by submarine captains about their own boats. But the USS Pampanito was not a typical submarine. The sub and its crew caused plenty of destruction, but they found the pinnacle of their honor and fame in a dramatic sea rescue. Gregory F. Michno relates the experiences of the crewmen--both enlisted men and officers--who served on the USS Pampanito.

The Pampanito...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806133481
• ISBN13: 9780806133485
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Tour Aboard a WW II Sub

Gregory Michno has a talent for researching a subject and presenting the knowledge he's gained in an interesting and easily understood way. He turns a non-fiction story into something which holds the interest of even those not particularly interested in history. he's done it again with USS Pampanito: Killer-Angel. We aren't encumbered with technical stuff but feel as though we're slicing through the water with the crew of this sub. The Pampanito served the U.S. well then suffered personal anguish when they learned they had helped sink two Japanese ships which held Allied POWs. The sub risked their own safety to return and rescue many of the POWS.

Refreshing change

This is a well-written, refreshing look at submarine warfare in the Pacific during World War II. Unlike many previous submarine books, including fictitious ones, which are written by the skipper or the exec and therefore put the sub in the best possible light, this book is written from the point of view of the enlisted men with "warts and all". Instead of concentrating on target data computers, gyro angles, and attack solutions, the story concentrates on the ultimate success or failure of individual torpedo attacks, descriptions of depth charge attacks, the rescue of P.O.W's and shore leave. Rather than reading yet another description of the intensity of being in command, the reader learns of the intense dislike of the captain by most of the crew which did not prove a hindrance in causing some damage to the Japanese war effort. The author is particularly adept at describing interesting facts or procedures in context, sometimes glossed over or ignored by other sub authors, without becoming bogged down in unnecessary detail. These topics include distilling "torpedo juice", decoding mechanisms, how a torpedo arms itself after it is fired, a comparison of Japanese convoys to U.S. ones, ordinary shipboard routine, venereal disease, and the mechanics of carbon dioxide exposure in a submerged sub. The author also achieved the number one objective of all stories--he kept the narrative moving forward. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in the "silent service". I look forward to visiting the "Pampanito" someday.

A Visit to a Real Live Boat!

After a recent tour thru the actual USS Pampanito (twice!) at Fishermen's Wharf in San Francisco, I bought the book at the bookstore next to the sub which is run by volunteers of this wonderful floating National Historic Landmark. What a thrill to actually see the sub in real life and then read a book about its' six patrols during WW2. As a son of one of the sailors who served on it, author Michno said he used to listen to his dad's war tails with some disinterest as they grew with each beer and retelling. Later he visited the sub with his own son and after realizing that it was his father's boat he was inspired to research and write a book about it, saying he wished that he had been a better listener. The book starts by giving a brief early biog. of six or eight men, where they were born, educated, etc., and how they came to be on the Pampanito. How it was built in New Hampshire, its' commissioning and shakedown and then an interesting and never boring account of each of its' six wartime patrols in the Pacific. It brings alive the details of the boats' activities and daily lives of the men, developed through oral histories given by them. Containing numerous photos, especially interesting were the recent photos of and recaps by the men, now in their eighties, who attended the fiftieth reunion in 1995, aboard the Pampanito. Touching was reading about the tolling of the bells ceremony where the ships bell in rung once as each of the names of the fifty-two subs lost in WW2 was called off. Well written and researched, Michno provides an exhausting list of footnotes on many of the details in the book. An interesting and scholarly work that is a fascinating and easy read.

An excellent look at "ordinary" submariners at war

There have been many books written about individual US Navy submarines during World War Two in the Pacific, but almost invariably they are written from the viewpoint of the commander or executive officer. "USS Pampanito: Killer-Angel" is different. This is a book which, for the most part, tells the story of a submarine at war through the eyes of her crew, the men who kept her engines running, who scanned the skies for enemy aircraft when surfaced, who strained to load the torpedoes into her tubes during convoy attacks.Sparked by the stories told by his late father, a crewman aboard the Pamapanito during her first two combat patrols, Greg Michno collected the tales of fifty of the men who served aboard her from her launch in 1943 till the end of the war. Together with extensive research into official records, Michno has woven these firsthand accounts into an absorbing portrait of ordinary men at war. His recounting of a harrowing depth charge attack with the Pampanito at a depth of over 600 feet could have come right out of "Das Boot". But the story is more than just combat. Day-to-day shipboard life in insanely cramped quarters, jury-rigged repairs upon vital malfunctioning equipment, wild R & R escapades ashore which could cause as many casualties as a battle at sea, conflicts and comradeship among the men and officers ... it is all here in this book.The Pampanito appeared on no one's list of "top" submarines as measured by merchant tonnage sunk or major warships sent to the bottom. All too often her successes were more than balanced by bad luck or, perhaps, less than stellar leadership. But on one remarkable occasion, the boat rescued 73 Australian and British POW's whose ships had been sunk during an attack on a Japanese convoy. The story of this rescue and the subsequent close bond formed between these former prisoners, many of whom had worked on the notorious "River Kwai" railroad construction, and their saviors creates an emotional high point of the book. Many of the Pampanito's crew felt that saving those men was more important than the sinking of any ship.As it happens, the Pampanito is still afloat today. Spared the scrapyard, the fate of most of her contemporaries, the Pampanito has been declared a National Historical Landmark and is docked at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco for visitors to board.The book is well illustrated with maps of the combat operations plus numerous photographs of crewmembers, both as impossibly young men during their war and as elderly veterans visiting their boat during a recent crew reunion."USS Pampanito: Killer-Angel" is an excellent look at ordinary men on an ordinary submarine during an extraordinary time.

An Enlisted man's view of submarine life

This is an excellent portrayal of life on a WWII submarine. It is a good picture of what life was like for the enlisted men, and for the service in general. I served on the Pampanito with the author's father. This is what it was REALLY like on a submarine in the Pacific during WWSII. I commend the author for his thorough research into the history of an unusual submarine and the living conditions aboard them during the war.